We can handle the truth

4:43 PM,
Jul. 5, 2013

Eugene Robinson

Written by

Eugene Robinson

I don't believe government officials when they say the National Security Agency's surveillance programs do not invade our privacy. The record suggests that you shouldn't believe them, either.

It pains me to sound like some Rand Paul acolyte. I promise I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat or scanning the leaden sky for black helicopters. I just wish our government would start treating us like adults - more important, like participants in a democracy - and stop lying. We can handle the truth.

The starkest lie came in March at a Senate intelligence committee hearing, when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked ...